Fall 2016 Week 9 Recap

Not much to say this week. The season is slowly approaching its close, as I’ve put on hold more than half of what I wanted to watch this season. I need to marathon some of them over winter break, but yeah, good week. Keep Flip Flapping.

Flip Flappers – Episode 9

Last episode was a slight dip from the brilliance of 5-7, but this episode proved that the show is still in good hands and has a great shot at ending well. This episode finished last  episode’s task of giving Yayaka the attention that she needed. Her jealousy of Papika was apparent before, but this episode really drove that home. The cage she’s trapped in by her memories of her friendship with Cocona really makes it clear how much she lost when Papika entered the situation. Cocona still has a lot of insecurities despite her massive growth, as we can see when the twins’ lies convince her. Papika and Cocona’s relationships continued to progress though as they once again reassured each other of their feelings for each other. This show’s a masterpiece, and I really hope it can stick its landing, because of it does it’ll be the best of this year, if not this decade.

3-gatsu no Lion – Episode 8

My thoughts aren’t all that composed on this episode. I really like how well they pulled off the awkwardness and spite between Rei and Kyouko, despite Rei’s clear attempts to be polite in his refusal of her. Nikaidou is way better than I expected and is getting the love he deserves. Rei’s family is the manga’s biggest point, and this episode delivered a lot on it. Happy the show is back from its one episode hiatus.

Yuri on Ice – Episode 9

Yurio’s performance was simply magical. The animation on it was much more detailed than that of the rest of this episode’s performances, and it payed off. We haven’t gotten as much Yurio as I would like, so it’s great to see another one of his performances. The real winner this episode though was still Victor and Yuri’s relationship. It’s the biggest reason why I’m watching the show, and it got even more progression this episode. Yuri’s grown a lot over the series, but this episode really showed how much he still needs Victor in order to perform at his best. Their reunion at the end of the episode was similarly perfect. It was shot just like any other romantic reunion, and the amount of emotion that came from it was enough to make me tear up. This episode was stellar, and I feel blessed to be able to say that a show of this quality isn’t my anime of the season.

JoJo Part 4 – Episode 36

Hayato continues to be a very compelling protagonist. Putting a normal kid up against a power like Bites the Dust makes the power all the more frightening, because it gives a good picture of how the viewer themselves would fare against Kira(not well). The pacing has been perfect over this arc, managing to raise the tension at every point. Cutting the ED this episode was a good choice in order to end on the cliffhanger. I have to hand it to David Pro, they’re adapting Part 4 in the best way possible, and really adding to it as an anime. I’m more than satisfied with how DiU is being handled.

Girlish Number – Episode 9

This was an interesting episode. The show had to recenter on Chitose at some point, and it was done in a very effective way. The new girl is naive and has bad taste, but she’s clearly everything Chitose isn’t. She works hard, cares about the role, and actually wants to succeed rather than be a success. This forces Chitose to finally be put in a situation where she can’t get away with putting in zero effort. This is only compounded by her terrible slip of the tongue towards Gojou, which sends her further down the pit of despair. Chitose was already at rock bottom as a person, but she needed to feel like she was in order to progress. Now that she’s there, let’s see if she’s able to pull herself out.

Vivid Strike – Episode 10

This show really does have a compelling conflict. Rinne’s incoming befriending is very anticipated because I really do feel bad for her. You felt bad for Fate, Hayate, and Vivio when they were forced to go against Nanoha even when they didn’t really want to, and I feel the same thing for Rinne here even if she isn’t against The White Devil herself. This show is hardly the most serious show ever, and its themes aren’t even slightly novel. The show is basically a mix of Vivid and the first Nanoha. But something doesn’t need to be original to work, and Vivid Strike works so very well. Nanoha is back in full force, and Vivid Strike is the perfect show to bring it back.

Hibike Euphonium 2 – Episode 9

This was certainly the best episode of Hibike this season outside of episode 1, and it managed to easily reach the heights of the season 1 episodes. Recently a lot of the drama has been interesting but unemotional, because most of it has revolved around totally new characters. It might be well constructed and written, but it isn’t all that emotionally interesting when we didn’t know the characters at all prior to their dramatic role. This episode bucks that trend by centering on Asuka, a character I’ve wanted to know more about the whole time. The drama around her actually works, and this episode managed to deliver its seeming conclusion in a satisfying way, as it continued to touch on themes of family and artistry while telling Asuka’s story. I really loved this episode, and while I’m worried about what’s to come, it reminds me that Hibike is a story which is very worth telling.

IBO Season 2 – Episode 10

I’m interested to see where the Mobile Armor is taken. Traditionally Mobile Armors are just dumb looking beefed-up mobile suits, seen most literally in the Psyco Gundam, but this one seems more like a force of nature or a kaiju. It’s rare to have an unpiloted mobile weapon in a Gundam series, so I really have no clue how this is going to be executed, and how it’ll factor into the various factional conflicts that this season is developing. This has me quite excited though, as it definitely isn’t going where I expected it would when we first saw the Mobile Armor.

Kiss Him, Not Me – Episode 9

This episode was unfortunately the least funny so far. Shinomiya is a boring character who I kinda wish wasn’t there, and none of the humor in this episode was otaku-focused. Serinuma used her stupid otaku voice too much in spite of that, leading to a generally less interesting episode. Hopefully it can rebound in the next one.

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